Ranking the 13 Best Superhero Movies of All Time

The modern superhero film is a go to for any summer blockbuster that a studio needs. It didn’t always used to be this way though. Before Spider-Man 2 and Iron Man, studios really struggled with superhero films, and the technology to make them great wasn’t really available yet. Now that the technology, CGI, and all other things needed is available to make big budget superhero movies, there have been a countless number of great superhero films, and we are at the height of the superhero movie age. These are the best 13 superhero movies so far.

13. Superman (1978)

Richard Donner’s Superman wasn’t the first Superhero movie ever, but it may as well have been. It took until Tim Burton and then Joel Schumacher for anything else to come close and if we’re looking back now even those Batman movies sucked. Reeve and company can actually be rewatched today and enjoyed. Keaton, Kilmer, and Clooney can not.

12. The Incredibles

Sure, it’s a cartoon. It also is super punk rock. This movie is awesome. How a sequel isn’t out yet is baffling to me.

11. Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman is the first thing DC has done right in the Zach Snyder era.

10. Captain America: Civil War

This movie to me is more Avengers than Age of Ultron. Especially because of the new characters that it introduced. Pulling off these movies is very hard, and the Russo brothers proved they can do it, which is why they’ll be helming the Infinity War movies. This movie was definitely a next step in superhero films, but isn’t as re-watchable as some other superhero movies because of it’s (although needed) annoying and agitating plot.

9. X-Men: Days of Future Past

The best ensemble X-Men movie there is. Sure, any kind of time traveling plot device can be not only argumentative and controversial but also kind of annoying, but the cast alone is full of Academy Award winners. The character development separated this film from others, and while the overall plot wasn’t exactly amazing, the story was really fun. Speaking of really fun…

8. Deadpool

Deadpool was really fun. It was also rated R which may as well have stood for “Risky.” It sure paid off, though.

7. The Avengers

Marvel’s The Avengers was a game changer. It wasn’t overly amazing and even stole a plot line and villain from one of the more average Marvel movies, but it was the first ensemble cast of superheroes with stand alone movies. It was very difficult to do and some thought it couldn’t happen. If Superman was Wilt Chamberlain, The Avengers was the first NBA All-Star game.

6. Guardians of the Galaxy

This Marvel flick wasn’t supposed to be as great as it was. James Gunn is a super wierdo. Zoe Saldana has had a ton of on-screen issues before. Chris Pratt isn’t a star. Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper aren’t even really in it. Who is Dave Bautista? At the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con when this movie was introduced, people were scratching their heads.

That being said, I’ve seen this movie too many times to count. It’s amazing. James Gunn is a genius. Saldana is a green babe. Pratt is a stud. Diesel and Cooper have dope voices. Bautista is a muscular Billy Crystal.

5. Logan

I have nothing to say about Logan other than when I first saw it, everything that I thought I knew about myself changed. Logan is about a good man pretending to be a bad man that turns you, the viewer, into a much better man. So so so so so good.

4. Iron Man

The second “actually good” superhero movie ever made. No offense to Donner’s Superman but while it started the trend, you don’t see anyone driving Model T Fords. Iron Man started the Marvel franchise. Robert Downey Jr came back into the light after over a decade of rehab, and became a superstar.

3. Spider-Man 2

The first “actually good” superhero movie ever made. Sam Raimi wonderfully directs ridiculous action sequences in this film that were far ahead of its time. Spider-Man 2 nails Doctor Octopus, who is brought to terrifying life by the perfectly cast Alfred Molina. The train fight remains one of the best action set pieces in any superhero movie, and a benchmark of the Spider-Man cinematic saga. Also, Tobey and Franco are the only Spidey and Harry I’ll ever support.

2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Joe and Anthony Russo crafted a tight, enthralling political thriller that proved equal parts cerebral and pulse pounding. Although Cap had developed a strong presence in his first two MCU outings, The Winter Soldier made him a lynchpin of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and brought him to the same level of importance as Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark. With its immaculate fight scenes, intelligent narrative and strong sense of continuity within the greater MCU, Captain America: The Winter Soldier proved that in a post-Avengers world, standalone superhero movies could be profound, insightful, and provocative.

1. The Dark Knight

Christopher Nolan reinvigorated Batman on the big screen in 2005 with Batman Begins, but it was the 2008 sequel, The Dark Knight, that really took the world by storm. To this day, it serves as the prime example of when a sequel can improve upon its predecessor and then some. Taking inspiration from stories like The Killing Joke and The Long Halloween, the movie followed Batman as he fought The Joker, played by Heath Ledger, whose performance stunned audiences everywhere and earned him a posthumous Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Besides the conflict between the Dark Knight and the Clown Prince of Crime, the movie also impressed viewers by chronicling Harvey Dent’s fall from grace, going from civil servant to two-faced revenge seeker. By combining the traditional superhero elements with a gripping crime narrative, The Dark Knight is not just the best superhero movie, but one of the greatest moves over the last few decades